Xref: utzoo comp.mail.elm:2778 alt.bbs:2304 comp.mail.sendmail:1769
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!mcdchg!chinet!les
From: les@chinet.chi.il.us (Leslie Mikesell)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm,alt.bbs,comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: Mail to/from a BBS (one login, many users)
Message-ID: <1990Jun30.205734.18524@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 30 Jun 90 20:57:34 GMT
References: <1990Jun29.074034.12656@actrix.co.nz>
Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
Lines: 31

In article <1990Jun29.074034.12656@actrix.co.nz> paul@actrix.co.nz (Paul Gillingwater) writes:
>I'm running XBBS under ISC 2.02, with elm as a mailer.  I'd like
>to do the following:

>1) all users login as "bbs" (only one login)
>2) no users gain access to shells unless permitted (scratch vi, hack elm)
>3) elm should read username from environment variable

>I tried setting up elm with various environment variables, e.g.

>HOME=/bbs/users/Paul.Gillingwater
>MAIL=/bbs/mail/Paul.Gillingwater

>This introduces a few problems.  Specifically, 14 character file names
>mean that there is a namespace collision with the mailbox and its lockfile.
>ANother related problem is how do I address mail in and out?  I'm following
>the path of using IDA sendmail, and defining the bbs as a sub-domain, e.g.

>Can someone suggest some solutions to the above?  I'd rather not give
>a separate login to all users, because of the admin overhead.

This is the first time I've heard anyone suggest that setting up a custom
sendmail configuration is easier than maintaining a password file.
I'm pretty sure you could do what you want in a variety of ways using
smail 3.1 but again, it isn't going to be any easier than just updating
the passwd entries.  You have to keep track of them somewhere.  What could
be easier than a single flat file?   You can, of course, dump everyone in
the same home directory with the bbs as their shell.

Les Mikesell
  les@chinet.chi.il.us